When talking about the apostles in the Bible, most people know that Paul was the one man who excelled above many others because of his great witness and experiences with Jesus Christ. His testimony had a significant effect on the establishment of the early church and the direction it would go in the future. He shook the core beliefs of all those who said that they were witnesses of God and set in order God’s will for all those who would follow after him. I will address the specific subjects that Paul taught in other writings. For now, I want to address the question of how Paul knew what the will of God was for his life and everyone else’s? Knowing his witness gives us an example to follow.
First, it’s made clear in Acts 9 that he had a great experience with Jesus Christ while he was on his way to persecute the church further. He was a man whom Jesus transformed in a big way when He appeared to him and showed him the will of God for his life and concerning the kingdom. After his experience with Jesus, Paul’s eyes were blinded, so he had no choice but to wait on the Lord to guide him from there. The Lord sent Ananias to Paul to open his eyes and instruct him. Paul testified of this account in Acts 22:12–15.
12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, 13 came to me, and standing by me said to me, “Brother Saul, receive your sight.” And at that very hour, I received my sight and saw him. 14 And he said, “The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from His mouth; 15 for you will be a witness for Him to everyone of what you have seen and heard”.
Notice that God chose Paul and appointed him to know His will and be a witness for Him of what he had seen and heard. How Paul received the will of God is the point of this teaching. When it comes to knowing God’s will, God should be the one to reveal it to you. If He chooses you to be a witness for Him, He will show you and tell you the things that you must testify on His behalf. Without that witness, you are a believer that is just sending yourself to testify of someone else’s witness in matters beyond what you have received. Paul knew the Old Testament law as well as any scholar, but a spiritual encounter with Jesus Christ is the thing that changed the entire outlook of his testimony and the will of God.
Paul knew the law of God so well that before his conversion, he used it to persecute the church. His mindset was only based on Old Testament scripture. His perception of the will of God was shallow and void of the Holy Ghost. He had no grace, only being sent by a Jewish high priest who was a child of the devil. He used the scriptures to judge the church by the works of the flesh. In other words, he was being led by a spirit of satan while using the word of God to justify it. Paul’s experience with Jesus changed his life and the church’s future forever. In the perception of the law according to the flesh, the will of God was very different from what it was after experiencing Jesus Christ by the Spirit.
With Paul’s example in front of us, where does this apply to all of us? When talking about following Jesus, you have to ask yourself some important questions. The right questions will help you see if you know what the will of God is for your life or not. Let’s start by asking one central question, and then others will follow depending on a yes or no answer.
Q. Do I know what the will of God is for my life?
A. Yes
Am I living in the will of God?
Where did I get what I call the will of God?
Did the will of God change my lifestyle?
Do I have fruit that testifies of the will of God to others?
Q. Do I know what the will of God is for my life?
A. No
What is the will of God for my life?
How do I learn the will of God?
Why do I need the will of God?
Am I willing to change when I know His will for me?
These questions are important because their answers will give you a clear view of where you are in understanding what the will of God is for your life. When you know His will, you can go forward in confidence and power while obeying what the Lord has revealed to you. You will be confident in what He gave to you while also knowing that you do not have to go forth in your own will. I’m not going to address each of these questions for you specifically; I will trust that you will do that for yourself, then allow your answers to be judged correctly.
The Spirit makes intercession according to the will of God.
In the book of Romans, Paul teaches us that the Spirit makes intercession according to the will of God. We see that in how Jesus and the His apostles lived their lives. Paul knew how to teach this truth because of his experience with the Spirit. If the Spirit is always doing God’s will, then it is apparent that you need the Spirit to lead you and guide you in the will of God. To help you learn how to be led by the Spirit in the will of God, we turn to a simple principle that works throughout the entire scriptures. Every faithful man and woman has to live by this principle when living in the will of God. You will see that this is how you live by faith and not by sight. We find it in Deuteronomy 29:29.
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
It’s simple; secrets belong to God, but what He reveals to you and me belongs to us and will lead us in the will of God. To have something revealed by God is to have it made known to you personally. It's a personal connection between you and God. It's when He speaks His word to you and makes you know His will. If it’s still a secret and God has not revealed it to you, you would be a thief to try to take it and work what He hasn’t given you yet. This thief often works in knowledge and not by the Spirit.
Working in knowledge is what Paul did when he was persecuting the church. He used the letter of the law to find fault and then judged them for their failure to keep the commandments through the flesh. He alone was a big reason why many saints were scattered before even getting established in Christ. Today, it’s easy to take the scriptures and another person’s teaching and try to teach it without possessing it by the Spirit.
We have a Bible full of the secrets of God. But the question comes down to which ones has He given to you and which ones have you sought out to know by the works of the flesh to exalt your knowledge? If God gives His secrets to you and reveals them to you with understanding, then they are yours, and you will be in the will of God to walk in those things. That’s what Paul’s witness spoke. He preached Jesus according to how He revealed Himself in his early days. As he grew in the Spirit, more things were revealed, and he became a father to many churches. Paul stayed with what was revealed to him, and it worked perfectly in God’s will.
God never requires you to walk outside of His will. He doesn’t hold you accountable for the things He doesn’t reveal to you. Just because you know something doesn’t mean it’s been revealed to you. We see that example with the Pharisees. But as long as you are faithful and sincere in keeping His commandments and fully walking in what He reveals to you, you will always be in His will. From there, you can grow and continue to have many other secret things revealed to you. Growth is unstoppable when the Spirit of truth is leading you.
There will indeed be hidden sins and evil spirits that still abide within you as you grow. But that’s why God’s grace is so powerful because when they haven’t been revealed to you by God, He’s got you covered. When His word shines a light on the things that are hidden in you, they will be exposed. Only then can you turn from them and walk in the deliverance revealed to you. That’s why we need the will of God to continue to reveal secrets to us, so that we can grow in His will and overcome everything that hinders us from becoming all that He has called us to be. The same goes for spiritual revelation. Not having a spiritual understanding of God’s mysteries can hinder us in the truth of the greater witness. But if you can walk faithfully in what you have, God will give you more and fulfill the witness He needs you to be.
God has many secrets, but He is a wise God and is very good at protecting His secrets from those who will defile them if they are given a chance. The will of God increases in your life as you grow and your obedience and faithfulness grow. You will have to learn how to be like God in that you will also need to be good at keeping His secrets. God’s secrets are the words to eternal life. They hold great power beyond the flesh, so He is willing to share them with you if you are willing to sell all and to join with Him in His cause for the rise of the kingdom of God.
Receiving His secrets can also come down to how much you can handle. You will have to be good at handling His secrets without letting them defile you. The world has formed a stronghold in our minds about who God is and what His will is. As we learn the will of God, His secrets might reveal something completely different from what organized religion and worldly wisdom have taught us. Walking in the will of God requires you to be a servant who is ready for change, especially when it challenges everything you’ve ever been taught. There will be plenty more on these things as we go.
For now, we must be sure how to answer the question that faces us all; What is the will of God for me? The answer lies in your ability to discern what’s been revealed by the Spirit of God verses what’s been revealed through knowledge. Therefore the secret to walking in the will of God is to walk in the secrets that He has revealed to you.
You may not have the same experiences as the apostle Paul, but if you are in the will of God, your witness is just as valuable to God.
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